7 June 2021 – SAFA Head of Referees, Abdul Ebrahim has explained nomination procedure for selecting the referee and assistant referee of the season.


Ebrahim said this process is followed until the very final matches of the Premier Soccer League and National First Division. The final PSL matches were played this past Saturday with the PSL awards ceremony done the following day.

“So procedurally, it was almost impossible to meet the close deadline. In the past, the awards ceremony are held a few days after the end of the season and that gives us enough time to process the winning officials. And so trying to blame the Association for not meeting the unrealistic deadline is being disingenuous,” said Ebrahim.


Ebrahim explained that the national panel match officials are assessed after every match in which they officiate in both the GladAfrica Championship as well as the Premier Soccer League. All scores are added up and an average mark is obtained and based on this average mark, match officials are then ranked accordingly.


‘’All our committees, Technical, Review and Appointments are made aware of these averages and are requested to submit nominations for Referee and Assistant Referee of the Season.


‘’Beside the average scores obtained, we also look at the number of technical errors made in the official’s matches and how often during a season, a match official has been sanctioned,’’ added Ebrahim.


Based on the above, all the information is then collated on a spreadsheet and forwarded to the Chairperson of the National Referees Committee for final ratification.


‘’Once everything has been verified and confirmed, the final nominee list as well as the winners are forwarded to the CEO of SAFA to forward to the PSL CEO,’’ concluded Ebrahim.